"Finally, I suspect that it is by entering that deep place inside us where our secrets are kept that we come perhaps closer than we do anywhere else to the One who, whether we realize it or not, is of all our secrets the most telling and the most precious we have to tell." Frederick Buechner

Come in! Come in!

"If you are a dreamer, come in. If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, a Hope-er, a Pray-er, a Magic Bean buyer; if you're a pretender, come sit by my fire. For we have some flax-golden tales to spin. Come in! Come in!" -- Shel Silverstein

Sunday, June 08, 2014

A Brave and Startling Truth

—If you know the title and artist of this work please let me know so I may give proper credit.

June 8, 2014 – St.
George’s Chapel, Harbeson, DE

(the Rev’d Dr.)
Elizabeth Kaeton

Lessons:

Acts 2:1-21

Psalm 104:25-35, 37

1 Corinthians 12;3b-13

John 20:19-23

Much has been written and much can be said about this moment
known as Pentecost. Most of it, I think, is the stuff of Bible Studies and
Christian Formation Class and Adult Forum.

We can talk about the historicity and the theology of
Pentecost. We can get into debates about the Christian co-opting of the Great
Fifty Days of Jewish tradition, and the Counting of the Omer, and whether or
not John’s Gospel is a reliable report of an actual event or, rather, part of a
tradition of Jewish literary and spiritual mysticism.

We can try to discern the literal meaning of the great,
violent rush of wind and the tongues of fire, or we can understand these
phenomena as part of a metaphorical language to express an awareness of a
freedom from the Law to a freedom of the Spirit of the Law.

We can wrestle, as well, with the great mysteries of the
Resurrection and its gift of the Holy Spirit – the one sometimes called Ruach and sometimes called Shekinah – the same Spirit who was present at the moment
of creation, brooding over the swirl of chaos, even as She was present at the
moment of the Incarnation.

She was there, too, in the midst of the violence of
the Crucifixion, and the grief and sorrow, confusion and joy of the Great Fifty
Days after the glory of the Resurrection, even as she is present to us, today,
opening our eyes to the way the presence of God’s glory continues to be
revealed in our day and time.

How to explain – how to understand – all these things in
this brief moment of our worship together of Word and Sacrament?

When the day of Pentecost came. Mark A Hewitt, Pastel & pen. 26 May 2012..

This is a sermon. It is meant more to inspire than explain.
Indeed, this is a sermon about what happens when we come upon a brave and
startling truth that is so earth shattering that our lives are changed and
transformed and will never again be the same.

It is her poem, “A Brave and Startling Truth” that has been
speaking most powerfully to me about Pentecost and what it may mean for us
today, in our own day and in our own time. Allow me to read to you an excerpt
from that poem.

When we come to it

Then we will confess that not the
Pyramids

With their stones set in mysterious
perfection

Nor the Gardens of Babylon

Hanging as eternal beauty

In our collective memory

Not the Grand Canyon

Kindled into delicious color

By Western sunsets

Nor the Danube, flowing its blue soul
into Europe

Not the sacred peak of Mount Fuji

Stretching to the Rising Sun.

Neither Father Amazon nor Mother
Mississippi who, without favor,

Nurture all creatures in the depths
and on the shores.

These are not the only wonders of
the world.

When we come to it

We, this people, on this minuscule
and kithless globe

Who reach daily for the bomb, the
blade and the dagger

Yet who petition in the dark for
tokens of peace

We, this people on this mote of
matter

In whose mouths abide cankerous
words

Which challenge our very existence

Yet out of those same mouths

Come songs of such exquisite
sweetness

That the heart falters in its labor

And the body is quieted into awe

We, this people, on this small and
drifting planet

Whose hands can strike with such
abandon

That in a twinkling, life is sapped
from the living

Yet those same hands can touch with
such healing, irresistible tenderness

That the haughty neck is happy to
bow

And the proud back is glad to bend

Out of such chaos, of such
contradiction

We learn that we are neither devils
nor divines

If anyone knows the title and author, please let me know

That, I think, helps explain to me more about the Pentecost
event than any book of theology or doctrine of the church.

It explains why today, Pentecost, is considered "The Birthday of the Church".

Hear now, again, the words of Jesus to the disciples in that
house where they had met with the doors locked for fear of the religious
leaders of their day.

“Peace be with you,” he said and he showed them his hands
and his side which bore the scars of the unspeakable, cruel violence that had
been done to him.

And then he breathed on them the hot breath of vocation, the
breath that finds its way to the very core of your being and shakes it like
thunder, the rush of wind that you know – in the deep places of your knowing –
was there at the moment you were called into being, is here now, and will
continue to be with you as you take the first step onto this new, somewhat
frightening, uncharted path of your vocational journey.

On the rush of that wind you suddenly know that the words of
the Prophet Joel were true and that God continues to pour out God’s Spirit upon
all human flesh – not because we are either demon or divine or even deserving
in any particular way, but merely human – and that God’s sons and daughters
will prophesy and young men shall see visions and old men shall dream dreams
and even slaves – men and women – shall be freed by the Spirit to prophesy.

And the prophecy – the brave and startling truth – that you
encounter, when you come to it, is this: you are neither demon nor divine. You
are merely mortal, with the potential to do great good and great evil. And
Jesus has said, even to you, oh mortal, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you
forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any,
they are retained.”

And you understand, when you come to it, when you come to
this Pentecost moment, that the slate has been wiped clean and you stand at the
moment of choice. You understand, when you come to it, that, being neither
demon nor divine, you can create a climate where every man, woman and child of
every ethnicity, race, tribe and nation can be set free from blind obedience to
the crippling laws of man and set free to live into the spirit of the laws of
God.

When you come to it, that cross in the road, there comes a
Pentecost moment, when from the heavens the sound like a rush of violent wind
comes and you know things now that you never understood before, and you know,
as St. Paul tells the early Church in Corinth, that ‘there are varieties of
gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same
Lord . . . . and to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the
common good. … to one wisdom . . .to another faith . . ..to another gifts of healing . . .and all these activated by the one and
the same Spirit . . . .”.

And, you know, deep in your places of knowing, when you come to it, that this is how the church - the very Body of Christ - is born. You are - I am - the church, not when we become grand buildings, but when we become "pillars of flame", on fire with the passion of the Gospel.

And you know that the time has come and is now to
face a brave and startling truth that you, even you, have your own unique
gifts, and choose to use them to the glory of God, and in service to God’s
people, and to your own deep satisfaction and yes, even your own delight.

When you come to it, that Pentecost moment of that brave and
startling truth, the mighty wind comes to blow all obstacles from your path,
and suddenly you know a spirit of joy and peace which the disciples first knew.

And, you, too, will know the deep wisdom of Dr. Angelou: That the caged bird
doesn’t sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.

I don’t know if I’ve taught you anything about Pentecost. If
I did, I didn’t mean to. It was purely accidental.

I will leave you with the ending of Dr. Angelou’s poem
which I hope will inspire you to live into the gospel that you may find the
brave and startling truth God has for you in your Pentecost moment:

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About Me

I am a joyful Christian who claims the fullness of the Anglican tradition of being evangelical, Anglo-Catholic, charismatic, orthodox and radical. Since 1991, my canonical residence has been the Diocese of Newark, where I was a member of the Women's Commission (since 1993), the Department of Missions (2 terms), The Commission on Ministry (1 term), The Standing Committee (4 years, one as President). I served as an elected Deputy to General Convention in 2000, 2003, and 2006. I have served as a board member of Integrity, USA, and as a founding member of Claiming The Blessing. I am national Convener of The Episcopal Women's Caucus, and am now member of the national board of RCRC. I attended the Lambeth Conference in 1998 and 2008 representing EWC. I graduated in May 2008 from Drew with my doctorate in Pastoral Care and Counseling and was Proctor Fellow at EDS, Spring Semester 2011. I am a GOE reader. I consult and counsel at Canterbury Pastoral Care Center in Harbeson, DE.

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